My memory is really slipping now. And I hope some of You Guys can help me out. What is the name of the first village south of An Loc, it was just a few K`s south the way I remember it. The village set right on the east side of HWY 13. Also what is the name of the Mountain Yard Village just north of An Loc that set right on the east side of HWY 13, if it had one. Once Upon A Time in 68 & 69 I was assigned to Aco 2/2 1st Inf Div. To be real honest that was one of the high points of my life. Never did anything else with my life that ever even came close to that experience. I miss thoes times and I miss the very special friends that I made there. TAKE CARE MY FRIENDS:ken

I do not know if anyone knows this story bout An Loc. But during the French Indo China time period. A group of Vietnamese men that worked in the rubber tree plantation was protesting against the French, so they decided to go on strike. The French tricked them by saying they wanted to meet with the leaders at An Loc to discuss their issues. The French captured them and placed them in the Village square of An Loc. While the other villagers were made to watch. The French disemboweled the men and then beheaded them. The French were not very nice to the Vietnamese.

Thanks guys for your help. Maybe the Village I am thinking of does not have a name. It was located about 4 or 5 k`s south of An Loc, Just about 1 Klick south of where HWY 13 & HWY 245 separated. On the east side of the road. This is where the NVA ambushed an 11 ACR Armored Column and drove the lead Tank into the rubber about 200 or 300 yds. And also this was where the 5th Arvn Unit that was security for that Village. Turned over their 5 Man American Advisory Team, to the NVA. This was in early 1969, I believe. One of the team members that were turned over was 1LT EARLE BROWNE. He was a very good man and a very good friend of mine. But He trusted the ARVN`S, and that trust got Him and all but one of His Team Members Killed that night. And the 5th Arvn Div did not give Earle and His Team any supporting fire that they were begging for, none at all. They just let them die. The NVA took great sport with them that night. And now I can't even remember the name of that damn dink village . And that, and what the NVA did to Earle and His Team haunts me to this day. If I could draw, I could draw you a picture of the that damned evil place. And to not to be able to remember the name of that village is unacceptable to me. Because (((Five Good Men Dies There ))). ken

Don't know about the village but I know B/2/2 relieved the 11 ACR on Hwy 13 in that area after they had gotten chew up pretty well. 11 Jan 69 just South on a colvert and marsh, at a couple of laterite mounds that ran along the East side of Hwy 13.

The contact you mention I'm pretty sure was 9 Jan 69. We dropped the Green Berets and ARVN off in the morning. We went on to Song Be to S&D. Retuning in the late afternoon we ran into a ambush from a hill slopping up from the West side of the road, right where we had dropped them. It must have been a mile long just North of the same culvert. Some guys reported the first contact they saw were dressed in ARVN fatigues.

As far as I know B/2/2 didn't have any KIAs either day. WIAs yeah but no KIA

Those NVA were in the area to deplete Armor and Mech units before TET 69. (Mech and Cav had relieved Saigon in TET 68.) Someone was getting hit everyday. The 11th was their 'last stand'. No blood trails and just about no ammo on the bodies. One guy had us tied up tor an hour. As we were mounting up to leave he opened up from a slit in the laterite bed for the old rail road. Call in gunships and fucked with the guy forever. When he was finally dragged out, one through the side of his head and NO ammo left. Don't think we got him?

But don't remember being near any village either day. Seem to remember a village on the East side a bit South of the area I describe. It was surrounded by spike logs set at about 45 degrees. It also had a big sign saying "Chu Hoi" and a lot of Vietnamese, Didn't know any name. we just referred to it as the Chu Hoi village. And we thought it was full of chu hois?

JOHN: Thank You so much for Your answer. And I can't Thank You enough for the Picture & Info, on Earl Browne. He was a very good friend of mine. He was a good man, and a great husband and father of two son`s. I hope his Wife and Son`s remember Him. For Earl loved them very much and talked about them all the time. He was just 23 years old when he was KIA. He would be 72 yrs old now. You would have liked Him.ken

GUYS: Maybe the Village I am asking about didn't have a name. And that should not surprise me. IMHO it did not deserve a name. For what the villagers let happen there, without even trying in the smallest way to at least try to help. The US Five Man Advisory Team that was sent there to help protect them. That Village and Villagers should have felt the wrath of God that night. Along with the 5th Arvn HQ`s that did not lift a finger to help the American Advisors. I was raised in a very religious family and taught not to hate any one. But I learned very quickly not to ever trust the Vietnamese. And I learned instead to despise all of them.ken

I am not trying to make excuses for the villagers but they had been living in a war zone for many, many years prior to our arrival. The people had to be for who ever was in their village at the time with the knowledge that if they helped one side out, the other side would appear at a later time to take revenge for helping the opposing side. They learned to do as little as possible for either side in order to survive.

Ken, I was with HHC recon platoon at thunder 4, in An Loc 68 -69. I believe if you look at map Larry G sent link to , the village south of An Loc is Ap Buc Vinh. As I recall it was just 2 or 3 hutches some barbed wire and with a couple of local malitia types lazing around. The village north of An Loc I think is shown as Ap Be Moi. This is the area that HHC recon along with another 2/2 co was ambushed on 1/12/69. I recall that area quite well as a bus full of people came out of the road on the right side of hwy 13 right in front of my track just before my track was hit with an RPG. Hope this info is helpful. The map helped blow the dust off the old memory bank and helped me remember other areas we had contact. .

Terry that's amazing that RECON got hit on the 12th. Bravo had been hit on the 8th in that area and the 11ACR was hit on the 11th. Bravo relieved the ACR and we thought that was the NVA last stand. A special regiment was tasked with denigrating Mech and Cav before the launched TET 69. On the 11th the bodies had virtually no ammo or food left, no blood trails either. We figured they were making their last stand and we wiped them out.

But next day same same! Do you have an idea of how many hit you on the 12th. And did they fight to the end. As I remember it, things got pretty quiet on 13 up that way the second half of January. At least for Bravo.

PS Terry, my track took an RPG on the 8th. Things just didn't change back then. Same sh*t different day!

And Curtis by the time you and I got there Bau Bang was just a milestone on the highway. Blown away in late 65, the Battle Of Bau Bang.

There were two battles in and around Ap Bau Bang that I know of. The first was on 12 November 1965 and involved the 2/2 and attached units. The second was on 19-20 March 1967 when the 5th Cavalry Regiment who were entrusted with the securing Fire Support Base 20, around 1.5 km north of the village of Ap Bau Bang. During the evening of 19 March, the Viet Cong attacked with machine guns, mortars, rockets and small arms fire. The mortars fired from afar while a large number of infantrymen dressed in black charged from the foliage. Initially, they swarmed over the American armored vehicles, but were dispersed by the vehicles shooting on one another, although some of the vehicles were destroyed. With the help of artillery and air strikes, as well as flares and aerial searchlights to spot their enemies, the Americans repelled the communists with ease. They claimed 227 communist killed and captured three, while losing only 3 and suffering 63 wounded.

Ken,
I don't recall if there was a body count they didn't prolong the ambush to long. I did lose one man, James Rush from my track though. He was killed after the RPG hit us. He was being attended to by medics Fernandez and Shannon when a rocket, possibly from one of our gunships, hit in a tree above them.
You are right the RPGs were really flying around that time. On Dec 27 th I lost a track to 2 possibly 3 RPGs when recon was sent to help B co when they were ambushed. I got the impression they really didn't like us around there.
Terry Sage

TERRY: It sounds like You have a lot of unique memories, of the same places I do. Working the Rubber around AN LOC was as one of the guys put it a really TOUGH NEIGHBORHOOD. And I always had a really bad feeling deep inside of me when ever we left the wire at Thunder Four in AN LOC to go out and do what we were sent to do and we all got paid for doing. I look at the few picture I have of when I was there in 68 & 69 and can't believe how young we looked and some of us actually were. We had a lot of 18 year old kids sent there for their Senior Trips with us. Yes the AO around An Loc was a real heart breaker and it scared me a lot and darn sure had my 100% full attention. But Guys LOC NINH, was the place that SPOOKED me the worst. And I still think about it everyday and dream about it most every night. I would like to see some pictures of what LOC NINH looks like today. And I wonder if it would still scare me as much today as it use to back then. Terry and anybody else that was there that is reading this. I am really glad You made it Home, and I truly hope You had a good life. I can`t believe it has been 50 + years since we were there. TAKE CARE MY FRIENDS:ken

Insert Photos

Web address (URL)

Image URL

If your URL is correct, you'll see an image preview here. Large images may take a few minutes to appear.
Remember: Using others' images on the web without their permission may be bad manners, or worse, copyright infringement.